2004-2005 Kilimanjaro Cybercast

February 1, 2005
We awoke on summit day at 11:00 P.M. and at 11:05 it started storming like the dickens with snow and wind and lightning. By the time we reached the crater rim there were 8 inches on the ground and about 40 mph
winds. Fourteen out of fifteen climbers made it to the summit.
We were all resting at Mweka camp by 3 P.M. and we had a very nice buffet
today despite the downpour.

Previous dispatches experienced satellite and internet problems and we were unable to post the current updates. We apologize for any inconvenience.

December 29, 2004 Listen To Todd's Call
Hi this is Todd from Mweka Camp at 10,000ft. We had a great
summit day today everybody preformed excellently and we climbed to the
summit we reached the summit about 9 in the morning and descended 10,000ft
down to Mweka. We had great weather and it was a wonderful day.
Just wanted everyone to know we made it to the summit and hope all is
good. Bye bye.

December 27, 2004 Listen To Todd's Call
Hello there this is Todd at Karanga camp just about 13,500ft on
Kilimanjaro. We just finished our what is it one, two, three, third
day of climbing and well fourth day actually. We will head to high
camp tomorrow and leave tomorrow night for summit. It was a great day
today it was a shorter day for us so everybody is well rested.
Beautiful hike up the Barranco headwall and everyone is in great shape and
having a wonderful time and thats it for now but we will keep you in touch
on what's going on. Bye Bye.

December 26, 2004 Listen To Todd's Call
Hi everybody this is Todd we are at the Barranco Camp on
Kilimanjaro we just finished our third day and had a great night last
night. So we are actually starting our fourth day this morning it
was a long hike we hiked all the way up to 13,000ft through some really
high alpine terrain with big boulders. We traversed across under the
Arrow glacier and then back down to the Barranco and on the descent you
see huge Senecios huge cactus plants and Lobelia smaller cactus that are
quite beautiful and evergreens, Kilimanjaros lots of flowers and plants
down here. Then in the evening time the mountain came out and it was
beautifully clear we are standing right under, sleeping right under the
Cicle which is a famous icicle on the breach wall of Kilimanjaro. It
is seven a.m. everybody is getting up and everybody is feeling well.
We are about to get up and have breakfast and start up the Barranco wall
which a kind of a little scramble that goes up about 1500ft then we
walk a ridge to Karanga camp. Everyone is great and everyone is
happy life is good on Kilimanjaro that's all from Todd. Bye bye.

December 25, 2004 Listen To Todd's Call
Hi this is Todd from Shira Plateau 12,700ft at Kilimanjaro
just calling to wish merry Christmas to everybody. Everyone is
having a great time and in good health. We just had our Christmas
dinner and Christmas cake and a few people would like to say hello.

:Hello this is Mr. G for Mrs. G as well. We are having a great time
and want to say merry Christmas and happy new year to our family and
friends. So we will see you soon. Bye Bye.
:This is Scott just wanted to wish everybody a merry Christmas back home
hello mom and dad and brother and we are having a great time. Bye
Bye.
:This is Brendan O'connor throw a shout out to everybody in Chicago.
Overall doing well and merry Christmas and happy new year.

All right that's all from Everest base camp no Shira
plateau camp we will talk to you tomorrow. Bye Bye.

December 24, 2004 Listen To Todd's Call
Hi everyone it is Christmas morning we are in Machame camp
here at 10,000ft. Waking up to a beautiful day and going to have
breakfast in a few minutes had a great climb yesterday through the jungle.
The trail has been greatly improved so our times are much faster than
usual. Rains a lot but its been easy to stay dry with our Gore-tex
and then we got to camp it was clear and not raining and nice skies.
Everyone is healthy and we are excited about the day. Today we are going
to travel from Machame up four or five hours up to Shira Plateau at about
12,500ft and we will see a lot of different cactus and flora today.
It is a huge change in eco systems from the thick jungle below to
more lands up high and at the very top of that then we kind of head up
into the alpine rock area. So that's all for now and merry merry
Christmas to everyone out there. Bye Bye from Todd

December 23, 2004Listen To Todd's Call
Hi this is Todd we are ... (break in transmission)
Tanzania all fifteen of us are here party got in here last night. things
are great we just finished dinner after visiting the Arusha National Park.
We saw lots of wild game today: zebras, giraffes, and we packed all our
gear and did our gear check. We have just been relaxing and tomorrow
morning we leave at 6:30 in the morning and head off to the mountain.
Hope everyone is well and we will give you a call after day one on the
mountain. Bye Bye.